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Thomas Edison invented the incandescent bulb, the phonograph, the DC motor and other items in everyday use and became wealthy by doing so.
Thomas Watson founded IBM and became rich through his company's contribution to the computation revolution. Lloyd Conover, while in the employ of Pfizer, created the antibiotic tetracycline.
Though Edison, Watson, Conover and Pfizer became wealthy, whatever wealth they received pales in comparison with the extraordinary benefits received by ordinary people.
Billions of people benefited from safe and efficient lighting. Billions more were the ultimate beneficiaries of the computer, and untold billions benefited from healthier lives gained from access to tetracycline.
President Barack Obama, in stoking up class warfare, said, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money." This is lunacy.
Andrew Carnegie's steel empire produced the raw materials that built the physical infrastructure of the United States. Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft and produced software products that aided the computer revolution.
But Carnegie had amassed quite a fortune long before he built Carnegie Steel Co., and Gates had quite a fortune by 1990. Had they the mind of our president, we would have lost much of their contributions, because they had already "made enough money."
Class warfare thrives on ignorance about the sources of income. Listening to some of the talk about income differences, one would think there's a pile of money meant to be shared equally among Americans.
Rich people got to the pile first and greedily took an unfair share. Justice requires that they "give back."
Or, some people talk about unequal income distribution as if there were a dealer of dollars. The reason some people have millions or billions of dollars while others have very few is the dollar dealer is a racist, sexist, a multinationalist or just plain mean.
Economic justice requires a re-dealing of the dollars, income redistribution or spreading the wealth, where the ill-gotten gains of the few are returned to their rightful owners.
In a free society, for the most part, people with high incomes have demonstrated extraordinary ability to produce valuable services for — and therefore please — their fellow man.
People voluntarily took money out of their pockets to purchase the products of Gates, Pfizer or IBM. High incomes reflect the democracy of the marketplace.
The reason Gates is very wealthy is millions upon millions of people voluntarily reached into their pockets and handed over $300 or $400 for a Microsoft product.
We are in the midst of the 11th presidential nominating cycle since party commissions and state laws made primaries the predominant method of choosing national convention delegates in 1972. Over the years, politicians and journalists develop rules of thumb to describe how these things work. In this ...
Almost exactly a year ago, members of Congress voted overwhelmingly to censure their colleague, Rep. Charlie Rangel, for bringing dishonor on the House. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi summoned the New York Democrat to the well and chastised him for 11 ethics violations, which included improper ...
Supercommittee members Sen. Pat Toomey and Rep. Jeb Hensarling are taking flak from some conservatives for proposing a deal including increases in "revenues," and a Washington Post reporter had some fun insinuating that they were backing a tax-rate increase. As this is written, no one knows what ...
Shortly before the Supreme Court agreed to rule on the constitutionality of ObamaCare's individual mandate, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed, 2-1, its constitutionality. Writing for the majority, Judge Laurence Silberman, a Reagan appointee, brusquely acknowledged that ...
Given the self-destructive tendencies of the Republican presidential primary "front-runners," not many who are paying attention are shocked or surprised that Newt Gingrich has risen back to the top of the pack. The obvious question being how long can he stay there? What Mr. Gingrich understands ...
Posted By: Jacapone(170) on 11/24/2011 | 3:22 PM ET
While excoriated by our socialist political minders as the primary cause of pollution, the automobile, powered with an internal combustion engine, has saved countless lives as the ordinary transport replacement for the horse. Horse dung was the greater pollutant, especially when it dried and became a breathable dust on highways and byways. Life expectancy has almost doubled since crapping horses have been removed from our urban environment. Now if we could just get rid of the socialists.
Posted By: DHBarr(480) on 11/24/2011 | 2:42 PM ET
Williams is correct, but MavenDog does make a good point that the Government often makes wealthy people who are not serving the marketplace. Capitalism has overwhelming been a good thing vs the alternatives that have been tried, but cronyism and government can distort capitalism into something that isn't so good.
Posted By: MavenDog(1805) on 11/24/2011 | 7:21 AM ET
William's examples support his premise that you must be doing something right if you are rich. I would not call Franklin Raines' leadership at Fannie May deserving of $90M. Some of the wealthiest men (Soros, Geithner, etc) are hardly praiseworthy nor deserving of the public trust. Most recent golden parachutes have been rewarding failure.
Posted By: davymac(10) on 11/23/2011 | 10:37 PM ET
Nothing matters to barry as long as it destoys amerika and keeps the 46% of people who pay Zero in taxes thinking they are getting ahead.
Posted By: hiramt(175) on 11/23/2011 | 10:29 PM ET
Another brilliant, inciseful article from Dr. Williams. He always cuts through to the quick, and nails topics to the barn door with clarity and irrefutable logic. Gates made his money through his business acumen much less than his technical acumen. While his BASIC interpreter was important, his purchase of Seattle Computer Products' operating system was more important. Dr. Williams is right. He made the big bucks from providing what people want. Long live Walter E. Williams !
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